ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT INVESTING IN STOCKS AND SHARES IN INDIA?

Anybody who is thinking about getting into investment, or stocks and shares trading will be wondering what the best investment platform in India is. You will no doubt have come across various brokers websites, each claiming to have the ‘Best online investment platform 2020’ or ‘Best trading investment platform’. These are often simply misleading keywords used to draw traffic to the websites by making unfounded claims to be the ‘best’. In reality, best for one person is not necessarily best for another. All the professional and successful investors will actually agree that there is no single ‘best’ platform, and that protection of equity by investing across multiple platforms is a much safer proposition than placing all your eggs in one basket. However it must be said that some are easier for a newcomer to enter than others. Each platform has its own pros and cons that should be carefully considered before deciding whether or not it is viable for you. Let us proceed to take a look at just a few of the possible areas in which you may wish to invest your money.

REAL ESTATE

Buying physical property is a relatively easy way to begin investing, however it usually requires a fairly large amount of capital to begin with. No trading account would be required. Real estate has traditionally been a reliable way to get return on investment if the property is purchased in the correct areas and maintained properly over time. However, it may take many years for a property to appreciate in value to any significant extent. The investor must be prepared to be very patient.

CRYPTOCURRENCY

Until recently, the banking sector was ordered by the regulator (RBI) to cease and refrain from having any dealings with persons or businesses that were involved in any way with the buying, selling, holding or mining of cryptocurrencies. This blanket ban was lifted earlier this month resulting in cryptocurrency once again becoming a legal and viable investment option in India. The government has drafted a proposed bill to forbid it again in the future though, so it is not clear how long this platform will remain viable. If and when the new bill is passed, those holding cryptocurrencies will probably have a month’s grace period to dispose of it or face the consequences.

COMMODITIES

MCX is the Multi Commodity Exchange of India. This platform allows investors to buy stocks of various metals (gold, silver, platinum etc), natural resources such as crude oil, gas etc, and crops/foodstuffs such as palm oil, soya beans, wheat etc. There are various ways to make money trading in these stocks, such as buying when the price is low and then purchasing ‘options’ or ‘futures’ which allow you to sell at a future date for a pre-determined price. This requires a trading account, but that can be opened with ease by any number of online brokers, often free of charge, so do not let that daunt you.

FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE (FOREX)

This can be done on a small scale if you have only a little capital to get you started. It involves purchasing quantities of foreign currency with the aim of exchanging it back to your local currency later when when the rates are more favourable. Trading is always done in pairs. When performed from India, the source or ‘base currency’ must always be the Indian rupee, so it is not possible for Indians to engage in the exchange of two foreign currencies with each other, one currency in the pair will always need to be the Indian rupee. For sake of argument in a fictitious example, an investor may purchase 1 million Turkish lira for 1 lakh Indian Rupees. After several years, when the Turkish economy has grown immensely and the Indian rupee has been devalued, the investor can now decide to exchange his 1 million lira for 1.5 lakh Indian rupees. It requires knowledge and careful monitoring of world economies to be able to accurately predict the best times to purchase particular currencies and the best times to exchange them back to rupees. Skill comes from experience.

MUTUAL FUNDS

A mutual fund is formed when a financial institution collects money from a large number of individual investors or businesses and amalgamates it. The sum of all the money together is then handed over to a professional money manager who is assigned to invest it in all manner of securities which may include stocks, bonds, real estate et cetera. The aim is to generate a return on the original investment that can benefit all the investors in the form of monthly dividends that are paid back to them. How successful the mutual fund will be and how much income they can generate for the investor will depend on several factors including the skill of the money manager, the market conditions at any moment in time, how much capital was invested initially by the investor. It is possible for the individual investors to own different amounts of shares in the mutual fund, and dividends will be multiplied depending on how many shares an individual owns. Shares in mutual funds are most easily held in a demat account, which is like a digital locker that negates the need for investors to maintain folders of paper certificates and documents about the stakes they hold. It provides safety in that digital records can not be stolen or destroyed by accidents. Demat accounts are extremely easy to set up and many brokers again offer the demat account opening service free of charge.

CONTACT THE PROFESSIONALS FOR PERSONALISED ADVICE

Now that you have read about some of the investment options available to Indians, you should not think that you are an expert already. There are further possibilities that have not been covered in this article, and no one article can cater specifically for your personal situation. Before deciding where you might wish to invest, you should seek some professional advice and discuss your investment goals. You need to consider how much you can invest, both in monetary terms and in terms of time. Some investment platforms are incredibly time-consuming and require skill, while others provide passive-income with little to no intervention required by the investor himself. Speak to GOODWILL INDIA about your hopes and desires, and let them educate you so you can make an informed decision of how to start out on the road to achieving them. Their customer service advisors are waiting to take your call on +9180122 78000. There is no shame in asking for advice. After all, everyone performs better in any field with a helping hand to get them started.